Until very recently, toilet tissue rolls that have been available for use in commercial and industrial washrooms have a diameter between four and five inches. Many wall mounted dispensers have been developed to hold two or more of these standard rolls of tissue. Two roll toilet tissue dispensers have been designed to dispense two or more standard rolls of toilet tissue with the axis of each roll either parallel to or perpendicular to the wall of the dispenser that is mounted onto a wall of the washroom. Dispensers have also been designed to mount standard rolls of toilet tissue either one above the other or in a side by side relationship. A typical example of a dispenser wherein the rolls are mounted side by side with the axis of each roll perpendicular to the wall of the dispenser that is affixed to a wall of the washroom is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,294,329.
More recently there has been developed a very large roll of toilet tissue particularly suitable for high usage public washrooms such as in a sports stadium. These very large rolls have a diameter of between about 0.2 meters (8 inches) to about 0.33 meters (13 inches) and typically hold anywhere from about five to about twelve times the amount of tissue as the prior standard diameter toilet tissue rolls. Heretofore, these very large toilet tissue rolls have been dispensed from single roll dispensers and because of the very large diameter, the roll has been mounted in the dispenser so that the axis of the roll is perpendicular to the wall of the dispenser that is affixed to the washroom wall. One example of a dispenser for a very large roll of toilet tissue is shown in U.S. Design Patent No. 275,246.
One problem with the single large roll toilet tissue dispenser is that if the person maintaining the dispenser opens the dispenser and sees that 80% of the roll has been used, the maintenance person must decide whether to leave that roll in the dispenser and take the chance that the roll will not run out before he comes to service the dispenser again or to remove the roll and replace it with a full roll. Rather than take the chance of displeasing the patrons of the washroom, the maintenance person will often place a new roll in the dispenser and throw away the partially used roll which may contain as much paper as one or two standard diameter tissue rolls. Thus, there is a need for a two large roll toilet tissue dispenser which includes means for limiting access to the second roll while paper is being dispensed from the first roll.
As in many wall mounted toilet tissue roll dispensers, it is desirable to dispense from the bottom of the dispenser. It is also believed desirable to close off as much of the bottom of the dispenser as possible by providing bottom walls adjacent to each sidewall of the dispenser. This presents the problem that, on occasion, the entire free end, or tail, of the roll can end up on the bottom wall so that the tail does not project through the dispensing opening. The user must then grope for the tail in the dispenser which is undesirable. What would be desirable is to have some means in the dispenser which helps prevent the tail of the roll from being displaced from the dispensing opening onto any flat surface at the bottom of the dispenser.
When the paper on these very large diameter rolls of toilet tissue is not perforated to form individual sheets, it is necessary to provide at the dispensing opening a tensioning edge for severing paper from the roll. This tension edge is usually parallel to the axis of the roll. A problem with locating the tensioning edge at the bottom of the dispenser is that depending on how the roll is located with respect to the tensioning edge and the amount of paper left on the roll, when the user severs the paper from the roll, the tail can remain located adjacent to the tensioning edge at the dispensing opening where it does not extend below the dispensing opening and thus is not visible to the user. This also encourages the user to grope within the dispensing opening or into the dispenser in order to locate the tail, which is undesirable. It would also be desirable to provide means in the dispenser for assuring that a portion of the tail of the roll extends below the dispensing opening so it is readily visible to the user no matter how the roll is horizontally positioned with respect to the dispensing opening of the dispenser or how much of the roll has been used. It is also believed to be desirable to maintain the angle that the paper makes within the dispensing opening with the cutting edge independent of the diameter of the roll in an attempt to maintain uniform cutting conditions when the web is severed. U.S. Pat. No. 1,039,344 discloses means in a wrapping paper cabinet for maintaining paper at a constant angle with respect to the cutting edge for the paper.
It is therefore one object of this invention to provide an improved dispenser for dispensing two rolls of toilet tissue that have a very large diameter.
Another object of this invention is to provide a two large roll toilet tissue dispenser which includes means for restricting access to the second roll until the first roll has been completely exhausted.
Another object of this invention is to provide a dispenser for two very large rolls of toilet tissue mounted side by side wherein the dispensing takes place at the bottom of the dispenser and wherein means are provided for preventing the tail of the roll being dispensed from being displaced onto the bottom wall of the dispenser.
And yet another object of this invention is to provide a dispenser for two large rolls of toilet tissue which has a dispensing opening at the bottom and wherein the tail of the roll being dispensed always extends below the dispensing opening so that it is readily visible by the user.
A further object of this invention is to provide a dispenser for two large rolls of toilet tissue wherein the paper is severed at a tensioning edge located at the bottom of the dispensing opening and wherein the paper inside the dispensing opening makes a constant angle with the tensioning edge as the diameter of the roll decreases.